Welcome to the Future
by justrenee43
Summary: Buffy and the gang are in for the fight of their life, yet again. The angels have decided to reward her with a little bit of help, but of course nothing goes that easy for our heroes. Someone long since gone has also been sent back and she's just dying to get her fangs into her sweet prince. On top of everything is Buffy up for the fight for her lost love?
1. Chapter 1

**Welcome To The Future**

**Chapter 1**

Buffy groaned when the shrill ringing of the telephone woke her from her dreamless sleep.

"Go away" she mumbled, rolling over onto her stomach and burying her head under her pillow. The phone however, would not cooperate.

Why wasn't Dawn or even Andrew here to answer the thing? Under normal circumstances it was attached to Dawn's ear. She wasn't sure if it was attached surgically or by demonic possession but regardless it never was allowed to ring this long.

She glanced to her bedside table and took note of the time that was displayed on her clock.

Noon, really? That's not possible. Of course it would explain why there was no one to answer the bringer of evil.

She could just tell that it was Giles by the annoying ring, she could see him polishing his glasses while scowling at her, demanding that she answer the phone now.

Why hadn't she opted for the phone package complete with caller id and voice mail? She asked herself.

"What" she growled into the phone.

"Good Lord Buffy" Giles scolded, "is that any way to answer the phone?" "And why do you even have a bloody phone if you refuse to answer it?

"I didn't answer it, because I thought that eventually you would take the hint and go away." was her response.

"Honestly I just now got to sleep, late night you know, proving to the immortal ass that he's not so immortal."

It was a rough night, if she had been forced to hear one more story about how no other vampire would ever measure up to him, she would have staked herself in the heart.

Didn't he know that there was only one vampire for her and even in his expensive Italian loafers, complete with lifts, he could never measure up? He wasn't even worthy of being dust on Spike's Doc Martins.

Her stomach clenched in pain; the thought of her vampire could render her completely incoherent, and so assuming that Giles had a point to make she shoved those thoughts aside.

It was never a good idea for her to think of Spike, while talking to her watcher, even a year later, the memory of his betrayal was fresh. His attempt at separating her from her vampire, made her want to remove her watchers' lungs by way of his nostrils.

"Oh good then. So I take it the immortal is." Giles began.

"An immortal pile of dust." Buffy finished.

"Excellent, very glad to hear that, but Buffy, now that that little problem has been taken care of, we need to move on to other things."

"I'm afraid that we have a very big problem."

"Of course we do" she sighed, "it's a day that ends in y."

"Look Giles, I'm in need of sleep, in need of a vacation, I'm ready to take early retirement, isn't that what you promised that I could do after I got rid of the immortal?"

"Really what's the point in having all of the other slayers and slayers in training, if you're just going to keep calling me in?"

"I mean honestly, they're going to get their slayer feelings hurt and a unhappy slayer is never with the good."

"Buffy" Giles shouted, "this is serious and just so you know, all slayers will be called in on this."

"All?" She gulped, oh God this must be big.

"All" He repeated. "Xander, Faith, and Wood are bringing groups today from the states, I need, you, Dawn and even Andrew on the first flight to London that you can catch."

"So it's….." She really didn't want to finish that sentence.

"Apocalypse Buffy."

"Shit," she mumbled before disconnecting the call with the promise to leave as quickly as possible.

Three hours later, Buffy, Dawn and Andrew were taxiing down the runway on their way to Heathrow airport; Buffy couldn't help but notice the way that Dawn had been watching her so carefully. Dawn knew, she would always know.

Buffy had been avoiding going to London like the plague. If Giles needed her in person, she always made him come to her; Buffy had hoped to never step foot in that city. The city that had been the birthplace of the love of her existence;

She battled the memories every day; knowing that if she gave herself over to them, she would break and the chances were good that she would never recover.

Memories, of her vampire, the one person in her whole life that had loved her unconditionally, the one that willingly gave his life or unlife or whatever so that she could live.

Oh God the way that she had treated him, and yet he never failed to stand by her side.

The way she punished him for his existence, teasing him and tormenting him; telling herself that he was a monster, and that he didn't have feelings, so she had free reign to abuse him.

The truth was, and she knew it even then, that she was the real monster; and despite it all he still loved her. Then came the day that she went too far and his demon snapped.

That was her fault too; he was just playing along with the rules that she had been playing by in the previous months; How could she expect him to know that the rules had changed?

The tears were falling freely now and she just stared out the window unable to stop them.

Andrew thankfully was oblivious to this show of emotion; he was pre-occupied with watching Star Wars on his phone; but Dawn saw. Dawn always saw everything and instead of calling her out on it, she simply squeezed her sister's hand and said "I know Buffy, I miss him too."

Not being in the mood to talk about it, Buffy gave her younger sister a small smile and settled into her seat and inserted her earbuds into her ears; selecting the play list from her Ipod labeled simply "Spike."

Her eyes drifted closed as soon as the opening strains of (I wanna be) Sedated, by The Ramones began playing. She gave up fighting the smile that appeared immediately as she remembered the night of the stakeout or the "so not a date" as she likes to call it.

He was so cute in his nervous, clumsy attempt at trying to do something "normal" with her; She should have known then that she would be hopelessly lost to him one day.

It would have saved so much pain and misery if she could have just given herself over to the vampire that was slowly but surely worming his way into her heart.

Spike, he was a paradox in himself.

The image was of the big bad, but when it came to the people he loved, he couldn't help but show the tenderness that he desperately craved to be returned.

He was rude and crude, but never far from the surface was the heart of the poet.

He had a body made for sin and the face of an angel; Cheekbones so sharp that you could cut glass with them, and lips so soft that one kiss could soothe all pain.

His platinum blond hair always worn slicked backed in order to hide soft, brown, curly locks that could melt even the coldest of hearts. Her heart.

She often wondered what he must have looked like as a little boy, and then inevitably she began imagining what their child would have looked like, if they had been able to have one that is.

She knew that he would have been an amazing dad; How could he not have been? She wasn't blind, she had seen first hand the way that he was with Dawn. Hell the way that he was with her.

When she first returned from heaven the nightmares were awful; He would hold her and talk to her in such a soothing voice that would immediately chase the pain away.

Then once he thought that she was asleep, he would sing softly to her, mostly beautiful Beatles songs.

The Beatles quickly became her favorite band, and yet she never thanked him for making the pain go away and life easier to live. Hell she never thanked him for anything really.

"No" she told herself, these thoughts are never of the good;

These thoughts were a road that led nowhere but to agony and pain; and the further she traveled down those roads, the more she knew that it was becoming likely she would find herself in a place so dark that she would never be able to find her way home.

Spike was never the type to ask for anything for himself; He would give until it hurt, and the hurt usually came from her hand; and still he only asked for one thing from her ever.

He only asked for a crumb, never more than a crumb.

Hell if only she could have one more chance, she would give him the whole fucking bakery.

She knew that there was nothing that she wouldn't do for him, just given the chance, but she knew that wasn't to be.

She was in the habit of soothing herself to sleep every night, by whispering his name and proclaiming her love for him, like a litany of prayers made to the Gods each night.

It wasn't fair she knew, but that didn't change anything.

It really wasn't fair, if she couldn't tell him how she felt, what right did she have to use his love to bring her comfort?

But then again, she was never really known for playing fair when it came to emotions like love.

Love, that was an issue of its' own: Buffy began squirming in her seat, this plane ride was giving her way too much time to be was just another thing had never been kind to her, her first love Angel, turned into the biggest mistake of her life.

She should have known that love was going to be something that she would never be good at considering that as soon as she gave her love and her innocence to Angel, he became evil and began his killing spree with the intentions of destroying her before he destroyed the world.

Then there was Riley AKA Angel lite; When Angel left her for his life of brooding and helping the helpless for a price, he literally ordered her to find a nice normal boy.

Enter Riley, he was cute and sweet in an aww shucks kind of way, but her life proved to be too much for him and so he left.

Funny, Spike had always tried to tell her that she wasn't made for normal, and after a couple months, she had to begrudgingly admit that he was right.

She sighed when she realized that once again her thoughts had wound their way back to Spike, they always did.

"I miss him so much" she thought as she heard the introduction to Billy Idol's Rebel Yell.

"_In the midnight hour, she cried more, more, more." _

Yep, that was her, always demanding more; Holding Spike to impossible standards and even when he was able to maintain those standards, giving nothing in return.

She never gave him credit for turning completely against his nature, for everything he did for her to prove his love.

Jesus, he even went to the ends of the earth and fought for his soul to be returned; He was a mess then, and instead of embracing him and making sure that he was taken care of she belittled what he had done (for her) and ignored him.

Why she hadn't acknowledged he was a better man without a soul than Angel was with one, she would never know. She was pretty sure that the reasons were Giles and her friends.

Every time that she was reminded of how she had been living her life as their puppet, living for what they expected and wanted from her instead of for herself the more her rage grew.

Truthfully she didn't care if she ever saw any of them again, she had to place at least some of the blame on their shoulders.

She swore from that moment on she would live for Buffy, for Dawn and for Spike's memory, other than that no one else mattered.

Giles wasn't going to know what hit him, she thought to herself, feeling her spirits lift for the first time in what felt like forever. Today he would be meeting the new and improved Buffy Summers, and screw him and the others if they don't like her.

It was as she was hearing the first verse of her favorite Beatles song, the one that he sang to her to chase the nightmares away, that she felt Dawn tapping her on her shoulder, to let her know that they were about to land.

She closed her eyes again, desperate to hear the song before she had to turn her Ipod off:

"_The long and winding road always leads to your door"_

"_Will never disappear" _

"I've seen that road before it always leads me here"

"_Leads me to your door." _

Oh if only this time those words were true.

The pilot began an announcement over the intercom system and she begrudgingly turned the player off and put her seat in the upright position so that they could begin their descent.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2:**

The old man stepped into an elevator that was situated nicely within the immaculate marble walls of a similarly floored hallway.

He used his palm to activate the elevator, very few people were authorized to use this elevator, and today he wished that he weren't one of them.

The elevator was equipped with only two buttons, one designating up and the other down.

He shuddered slightly as he pressed the button that would carry him for what seemed miles southward.

The previous trips down to the basement, as everyone referred to the cave like building that he was quickly approaching, never went according to his plan, and he had no reason to expect that today would go any differently.

But he had his orders.

Suddenly the lift came to a complete stop and the lights flickered until finally he was encompassed in complete darkness. They always had a flare for the dramatic down here, he thought wryly as the doors opened and he stepped out onto a solid granite floor, with no light to see by except for a few torches, spaced haphazardly every few yards, leading the way to the office of the bane of his existence Lily.

Lily also known as Lilith in many cultures' lore was her father's favorite child. She is the demon of temptation, and according to the nameplate that was proudly placed on the door to her office "The Executive Administrative Assistant to Charon".

He stepped through the door without knocking and marched directly to the little bitch's desk.

"Charlie, what a pleasant surprise, I didn't realize that we had an appointment today." Lily said with a wicked grin, she stood up presumably to shake his hand, but in the process managed to pull the top that she was wearing so that it revealed even more than it had just a minute earlier.

"Save it Lily, you know I would never fall for your tricks, you don't tempt me even a little." He said while plopping himself down in a chair directly facing her.

"Oh all business today is it?" She said with a little pout, "So what does Rahmiel want today?" She asked

He flinched a little when she used his true name, being the angel of mercy and love it burned just a bit when his name was spoken by a demon.

"I have orders to take one you have in holding back with me."

"Orders huh?" She laughed softly, it was a beautiful, melodic sound, very similar to bells or tapping your finger on fine crystal. Nope still not tempted.

"And just who, may I ask, am I supposed to release?" Her eyebrow arched in amusement.

"Don't play dumb with me, you know full well, who." He stated with a note of finality.

"You're kidding me right?" "There's no way in well here, that we're letting that one go." She was laughing so hard that tears began pouring out of her eyes now.

"No decision has been made yet, you can't keep him here." He argued.

"Fair point, but answer this, whose orders are you representing?"

"Ok for starters, Raphael, Shepherd, Nemamiah, Sammael and if you need more, Michael."

The demon blanched at that; "So we have the healer, the angel of repentance, the angel of just causes, the angel of souls and the angel of miracles, all laying claim to this one." She whistled through her perfectly, white, even teeth.

"What do they want with him, and I swear if I hear one word about a slayer I'm going to vomit."

"Well?" She asked.

"I don't think I'll say anything, I just got this shirt back from the cleaners, one hour service, my ass." He grumbled."So this is a big deal, maybe I'd better call my dad for approval on this." She said threateningly.

"Fine, but if you do that I'm pretty sure that Michael can get his boss down here too, you know he doesn't get involved in these issues without direct approval."

"You wouldn't." She was beyond pale now, was that shade considered grey? He wondered.

"That meeting is not meant to happen for hundreds of years yet." She implored.

He couldn't help it, he laughed at her. "Yeah and we all know how that's going to turn out, it was foretold so long ago."

"There's always hope." she argued.

"Says she who lives in the dimension without hope."

"Ok, so no bringing the big guns in, but obviously, I can't just let him go, there would be hell to pay after all." Charlie just groaned, he should have known that one was coming.

"So what do you suggest?" Truthfully he could care less about the trouble she was certain to face, but he just wanted to get out of this place and back to where he could breathe again, metaphorically speaking that is.

"A trade?" She offered with a sly grin.

"A trade, and who do you suggest that I trade with you?"

"How about the Wicca?" She said slyly, "You know we're going to get the red witch in the end, so how about you send her here and let her be with her lover."

"Absolutely not, she's pure of heart and of spirit, she wouldn't make it down here?" "How about Anyanka?" He offered with little hope.

"Hell no, we keep hearing about her incessant ramblings with regards to orgasms and money and Xanders' penis." "Thanks but no thanks."

"Oh well it was worth a try." He offered off handedly

"How about the slayer's mom?" "That might be fun, let her get a daily reminder of what her baby girl has to deal with?"

"Nope, she's off the table, she's already been promoted."

"Joan of Arc?" He replied with "forget it."

"Mother Theresa" "Next" was all that she heard.

"Well obviously, we're at an impasse, any other suggestions?"

He pretended to give it a thought for a couple of minutes, and then with a small smile, perhaps if he was lucky, too small for her to even have noticed it, he said simply "how about a game of chance?"

He watched her face light up and he knew then that he had her, as smoothly as he could he asked "what do you want to play?"

"Chess" She offered, "Many deals have been struck over the ages during a game of chess."

"That will take too long, the big guys are in a hurry, how about poker?" He suggested.

"What's the rush, what are they planning" and then realization hit, "They're sending him back aren't they?"

"Yep" he popped the p and said no more as he watched her face change to reflect nothing but rage.

"No, no deal, no games, call Michael if you have to, but no." she screamed.

"What?" "Are you afraid that you can't beat me,"

Lily hated nothing more than to admit fear, but her father was pretty big on retribution and if she lost, she would be demoted, returned to cleaning up after Turlok demons.

Charlie continued to goad her, "don't I remember something about your being the seventh's circle junior poker champion two years in a row?"

"Three, but who's counting?" She said, trying not very convincingly to feign an air of humility.

"Come on, one hand takes all." "I haven't been playing that long, you should have no problem beating me." He coaxed gently.

"So, if you win, you guys get him, what's in it for us when I win?"

"If you win" he said while clearing his throat "you get to keep him of course, we will relinquish all rights to him."

"Not enough" the demon snapped, "we have him already, I want more."

"Nothing has been settled with regards to his eternity yet, as of right now he's in holding, what else could you possibly want."

She smiled the most evil smile that he had ever seen, and that was saying something.

"24 hours to walk free on the earth, nothing less will do."

He gulped and sent a silent prayer upwards, that the bluffing skills that Peter had been teaching him would be good enough, before he answered her with one simple word "done."

"I'm sure that I have a deck of cards around here somewhere, give me a second to find them and we'll get started." Lily offered, already imagining what she would do with her 24 hour vacation.

"That's ok, I'll have Raguel bring a deck with him when he comes." He told her in response, he wasn't taking any chances with this girl.

"Raguel, is that really necessary, he hates me. Don't you trust me?" She pouted.

"First of all he is an angel, he doesn't hate anyone and second of all no."

"But, but, but" she sputtered.

"Look it's a much for your protection as it is mine, he is the angel of justice and fairness after all." "His presence insures fairness on both sides."

She couldn't really argue with that logic, so like a petulant child she said nothing.

Meanwhile, in an area, two floors down, the vampire in question, was waiting; Waiting for what he really didn't know, but he knew something was coming.

The area that he was being held in was nothing, there was no other way to describe it; no walls, no light nor no pure darkness, maybe grey was the way to describe it, but that wasn't quite right either.

It was neither hot nor cold; but in all honestly it wasn't exactly comfortable, it was nothing.

There was no sound, not even a vibration that he could feel.

In other words it was as if he were deaf, blind, had no nerve endings, and no sense of smell. It was infuriating.

There were no chains to bind him, but he was unable to move. He had no memories, no idea really of who he was or what he was doing there, in the middle of a vacuum. That's it he thought, the way to describe his surroundings vacuum.

Time had no meaning, he had no idea how long he had been there, it could have been seconds or it could have been centuries. It just was.

There was no sleeping, but no need for it anyway, there was just nothingness; but still somehow he knew things were going to change.

No sooner had that thought flittered through his mind, or maybe it was years later, he was suddenly blinded by a light so bright that if he remembered being a vampire, he would be terrified of becoming dust.

As the light began moving closer to him, he heard a sound; a sound so beautiful it would make poets weep, so soothing that it could end wars and so strong that it could make mountains crumble into the sea.

Even without memories, he knew that this was something that he had never been witness to before;

"What are you?" He asked, startled by the sound of his own voice.

"Be not afraid, I am Gabriel." "I am the angel of peace and of The Messengers."

An angel huh, that could explain why the being was so unfamiliar, he couldn't swear to it, but he was pretty sure that he had never met one of those before.

"I came to give you a message, we are coming for you William."

"Coming for me huh, why's that?" He had been called William, while that sounded familiar it didn't exactly sound right. He was beginning to wonder if this Gabriel bloke had made a mistake.

"We have a job for you, a very important job, one that only you can perform, you're not finished yet."

"Great" he thought, not that he minded the sudden lack of nothingness, but he was going to have to go to work.

"So what's this ever important job you have for me?" He asked, hoping beyond all hope that it was going to be something that he could do.

"It is for you to remember and to figure out for yourself, but know this, you must not fail."

And just like that the angel was gone and the nothingness was back.

15 minutes after the deal was made, Charlie heard the solid footsteps that belonged to Raguel, nearing Lily's office.

"So a card game it is?" The soft baritone voice asked firmly. "I assume that everyone here knows the rules; one hand winner take all, the game will end immediately if I even suspect anyone of cheating." He gave a hard glare to the female demon, sitting to his immediate right.

"Why are you looking at me?" She complained, and thought it about it for a second and then conceded that he indeed had her number.

With a snap of his fingers a deck of cards appeared on the table, and he began to shuffle them with a style of expertise that you would expect to see at a finer Las Vegas casino.

"Ladies first, cut them please." He said while never taking his eyes off of her hands.

"Charlie, would you like to cut also?" He offered to his fellow angel, Charlie declined deciding that if his friend had not noticed any type of deception, that they would be just fine.

"Everyone ok with five card draw, I assume." He stated as he was already dealing the cards.

Neither the demon nor the angel offered any argument, so once again he stated simply "Ladies first."

Lily spent a couple of moments sorting her cards, obviously making mental calculations before she asked for three, while handing the angel her discards.

She looked at her cards and Charlie could have sworn that he saw a flash of something in her eyes very briefly; Not only had Peter been teaching him how to bluff, but also how to read opponents tells.

He had seen Lily play before and he was almost positive that the look that she had been wearing was one of frustration. Please let it be frustration he prayed.

One more look at his cards and he laid down one.

Raguel, slid one card to him, paused just a second and said "Ok, let's see them.

Charlie barely had a second to register what card had been dealt to him, when he laid them on the table.

He took instant notice of Lily's cards and he sighed.

She had the seven, eight, nine, ten of spades and the eight of hearts, nothing but a pair of eights.

She was looking at his cards now, indignation clearly showing, it's not possible she whined; Charlie had a pair of queens and three twos. Full house, he said a silent prayer of thanks before speaking to his opponent.

"No need for you to get up" "I know where you're keeping him, I'll get him." He offered.

"No, no this can't be, you must have cheated." She exclaimed, ignoring the look that the angel of justice and fairness was giving her.

"It's not fair" She continued, "You just can't put him back with his memories in tact, think of all that he would be capable of if you did. No memories." She pled.

"And you can't put him back as a souled vampire, again unfair advantages." She continued.

"The lady has a point, so here's what I purpose;"

"Wait," Charlie shouted. "You want to put a man from the 18th century back into the 21st century with no memories of his life as a vampire and his purpose at all?"

"More like locked, but not impenetrable." The other angel offered.

"This is crazy!" Charlie retorted.

"I'd say it's a fair test to see if he fulfills his destiny" Lily said innocently.

"Now you care about fairness?" Both angels retorted.

"Fine" Charlie muttered, knowing that he had been beaten. "It's his destiny, he'll figure things out."

"Let it be done." With a snap of his fingers, Raguel released the hold that had been placed over William, and he and Charlie, began the trek to their home together.

With an evil grin, Lily, also snapped her fingers and the lock that had been placed on William's memories transformed into a brick wall.

"That will make for a more interesting adventure." She giggled.

However, Raguel, was fully prepared for that sneak attack and with a wave of his hand the brick wall became a delicate web, knowing that all it would take to trigger those memories would be a pull of the right strand by a certain someone.

Knowing that her father was going to be furious, Lilith began formulating a plan, that would make this game a little more sporting and maybe would appease her quick to anger dad.

Perhaps a race to the finish, the cruelty and chaos that together again the two could create, would be delicious.

So with a small sigh of regret and a wave of her hand, she released her favorite pet back into the world.

"Find him first Druscilla" She whispered into the wind.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

One hour and fifteen minutes, that's how long it took for the three of them to exit the plane, find their luggage and make it through the customs checkpoint.

Fifty of those were explaining that the stakes and the crossbow that were in her trunk were being donated to a museum; Why didn't Giles warn her about that?

Speaking of Giles, there was no sign of him anywhere. Sure she had the address of the council headquarters and could take a cab, but seriously why couldn't he have taken a little time out of his life to pick her, Dawn and Andrew up from the airport?

It just went to show just how far apart the two had really grown. The thought made her more than a little sad, he had been like a father to her and until he had the audacity to suggest that they may need to kill Dawn during the battle with Glory.

She knew that had been the beginning of the irreparable damage done to that relationship and then after Willow and the other Scoobies resurrected her, tore her from the warm embrace of heaven, he abandoned her. "Stupid Watcher." She said under her breath.

The final straw was when they were getting ready to battle The First, not only had he conspired with Wood to help kill Spike, but he stood with her so called friends and the potentials, to cast her out of the leadership role and in fact out of her own home.

There was only one person to stand steadfast at her side, of course it was Spike. Not even Dawn, had wanted her there anymore, only Spike.

Then her one friend, her one true source of comfort had to go and be all noble and get himself killed saving the world. "Stupid vampire." She sighed.

After waiting a few more minutes to see if Giles would ever show, she and the others made their way outside to find a cab, with any luck, there wouldn't be any to be found, she just knew that this was a premonition as to how this trip was going to go.

Once outside, where it was raining of course, a man walked up to her and questioned "Ms. Summers?"

Buffy gave him a complete once over and considering the amount of tweed that he was wearing and the look of having a stick shoved firmly up his ass, she knew that he must be from the council.

"Yes, Buffy, is me."

"Hello, my name is Robert and I'm from the council, I'm afraid that Mr. Giles was not able to take time away from the office today, so he sent me to collect you and your companions."

He ushered her and the others into the back seat of a beautiful Mercedes limo, while he placed their luggage in the trunk. Buffy immediately began looking to see if they had any alcohol stashed in the mini-fridge, she had a feeling that she was going to need a stiff drink."

"So Robert" Dawn asked once he had fastened himself securely into his seatbelt and had pulled out into traffic, "What's the sitch?"

"Excuse me miss, but what was that, I'm afraid I don't understand the question."

"You know, the situation, the big bad, the nasty evil, any of this ringing a bell?" She explained.

"Uh, well, it's uh probably, you see" He stuttered. Buffy knew that if he weren't afraid to take his hands off of the wheel, he would have begun frantically polishing his glasses.

"It's probably best if we left that for Mr. Giles to explain, he is much more informed on this matter than I am."

"Of course he is, isn't that just like him, to keep everyone out of the loop until bam the apocalypse is right on top of you?" Buffy said somewhat under her breath.

Andrew began bombarding Robert with questions regarding the headquarters itself, and Buffy grateful for the distraction, helped herself to a second shot of scotch, and began gazing out the windows, wondering if they were in an area that Spike used to call his home.

She made a point of promising to herself that she would not leave London, until she found out more about William's human life. That is if she survived whatever was coming.

A short time later, Robert pulled the car through the gates that were obviously meant to keep everything out. The drive seemed to go on for miles, through acres and acres of very green grass when they finally pulled to a stop outside a small castle.

"Really a castle, and I'm surprised why?" She asked sardonically.

Andrew was in awe, "Wow, this is just like Wayne Manor." He said in a soft voice that was usually reserved for funerals or church services.

Dawn just made a comment about hoping there were cute boys working in the place.

Some things never change.

Robert escorted them to the doors with a promise to return for their luggage. He was reaching for the door handle when it opened and on the other side stood her watcher.

"Buffy" He said while giving her a fatherly hug, and he turned to Dawn to embrace her lightly and finely addressing Andrew with a nod and a firm handshake. "Ouch" Andrew whined.

"Well, you three, please follow me, we'll have tea in the sitting room." He ushered them through a set of double doors, pictures adorned all four walls, mostly portraits of men Buffy could only assume were long since dead former watchers. Well, where were the portraits of the slayers huh?

While Giles poured the tea and made sure the sandwiches and cakes were to everyone's satisfaction, he attempted to make small talk; undoubtedly feeling the tension rolling off of his slayer's shoulders.

"So I assume your trip was pleasant" He began.

"Peachy with a side of keen" She answered.

"So Faith and Wood arrived earlier with a group of slayers, they are all sleeping, jet lag I presume."

"Ok, and when is Xander supposed to get here?" She asked trying to maintain civility, despite the lack of caring.

"Around midnight, I believe, he will be bringing a group of 11 with him."

"Excellent, so Giles, what's up?" "What's the new big bad?" Buffy asked, suddenly very tired, she didn't have patience for this whatever it was.

As if on cue Giles began polishing his glasses and stuttered, "Well I was rather hoping to wait until we were all gathered."

"Isn't it you that's always, doom and gloom, time is of the essence guy.?"

"You wanted me here, I'm here so spill Giles."

"Ok" he sighed, he knew defeat when he saw it.

"I'll tell you Buffy, what it is, is evil."

"Ok, so it's evil, more details please."

"No, not evil, as in a creature or being that is evil, but the essence of evil in its' most pure and primal form, this is the thing from which the first was born."

"Uh huh." was the slayer's only response. She really needed more scotch.

"And Buffy there's more, there's something that you need to know about how it was released."

Buffy and the others listened to Giles tell the story of Angel and his time at W&H, his involvement in the Circle of the Black Thorn, and his attempt to take down the senior partners from the inside for almost an hour.

She felt herself getting angrier by the minute until the arms of the chair that she was sitting in began crumbling in her hands.

"Buffy, please do try to control yourself, that chair is from the early 17th century." Giles scolded her, like she was a small child getting caught with her hand in the cookie jar.

"Not really caring much Giles." She growled.

"So Angel did this!" She snapped, "Once again, he wanted to prove how much more he knew than anyone else and without regards to anyone of his groups' safety let alone the worlds' he just declares war like that."

She was incredulous, once she had grown up she realized that his arrogance would be his downfall one day.

She still harbored anger towards him from when he brought her that damned amulet.

Once she had moved to Rome, and was able to get a clear head, there was a part of her that was convinced that he knew exactly what it would do to Spike; which is why he didn't put up an argument, when she stated that Spike would be her champion.

The once great love of her life, continued to make decisions for her, all in her best interest of course, and it cost her everything.

Fury that she had forgotten that she was capable of feeling, flared within her changing her beautiful emerald eyes to a hue just short of black."Get me on the first flight to L.A. Giles, I'm going to go beat this thing somehow, and then I'm going to dust him; I've had enough."

"Buffy please calm down and do quit breaking the antiques."

"It's not going to be that simple, the evil is coming straight towards us, straight to the council." "That's why I have called everyone here."

"And as far as dusting Angel goes," he continued "He died in the battle, everyone in his group did, including….." He stopped himself.

His slayer was already standing on the precipice of something that he's never witnessed before, and for the first time in his duties of being her watcher, Rupert Giles was afraid of Buffy.

"Including who, Giles?" Her voice was deadly quiet now, this was the proverbial calm before the storm.

She noticed the looks that he was trading with Andrew, their eyes darting back and forth, between each other and Buffy.

She had a sinking feeling in her gut and if her gut was right, she was going to destroy the castle with her bare hands stone by stone.

"Including who? And this time, I'm not asking nicely, SO TELL ME NOW!" She said through gritted teeth.

"B Buffy, you must understand." He was imploring her, pleading with her through his eyes, that she not kill him.

"Giles, are you trying to tell me that Spike was sent back, and no one bothered to tell me?"

"When he arrived at Wolfram and Hart, he was completely incorporeal; He tried to leave Los Angeles, but it appeared that he was linked to the Amulet he wore to close the hell mouth, and the amulet was property of Wolfram and Hart, so he could not leave."

Buffy finally let go of the death grip that she had been abusing the chair with and she crumpled to the ground.

She couldn't breathe, she couldn't cry, she couldn't scream, no air was able to make its' way into her lungs and she was pretty sure was going to die right there on the spot.

Dawn quietly kneeled next to her sister and took her in her arms, trying to help her find the rhythm of her breathing again; while shooting the watcher an angry look at the same time.

After several tense moments, she calmed herself enough to ask "how long?"

"How long what Buffy?" Giles relaxed slightly, thinking that the worst of the storm had passed. Oh how wrong he was.

"How long after closing the hell mouth was he returned?"

"About a week." He replied honestly.

"How long after that until you found out?" She asked her voice even and flat.

"A couple of weeks, I suppose, Wesley called me to find out if I knew how to put him back into corporeal form again."

"Then what?"

"Then I received a call a couple of months later from Angels' friend Fred, letting me know that they had received a package in the mail, that returned Spike to his natural form."

"So what you're saying is that you knew from the beginning and yet during all of the conversations that we had between then and now, you couldn't be bothered to tell me?"

"B-bbuffy , please try to understand, that Spike was always your weak spot and I thought."

She cut him off with a bark, "Giles I swear to God, that if the words "for my own good," come out of your mouth I am going to rip your head off of your shoulders.

"It's just you seemed to be doing so much better, and Angel and I thought."

"OH, you and Angel thought, of course he would never have selfish motives behind anything that he did," She screamed.

Giles at least had the decency to look embarrassed about failing to realize that little piece of information.

It was then that she took notice of the uncharacteristically quiet Andrew squirming in his chair like he had something horribly uncomfortable in his pants.

She simply glared at him and then said "Spill Andrew, what do you know about this?"

"It's not my fault" He wailed, "When Spike and Angel showed up in Rome, to take care of that problem with the head, and saw you with the immortal, I didn't know what to do, so I called Mr. Giles."

"He was in Rome, and you didn't tell me, you mother fucker."

"You knew, you knew how I cried every night, how I've been hanging on by a thread, not even close to living, you knew all of this and yet you said nothing."

"Well, he saw you with the immortal, and Mr. Giles said to tell him that you had already moved on, I'm sorry, but I'm scared of the council."

"You need to be more afraid of me." She swore.

Dawn glared at him, a look deadly enough that he should have been ashes himself.

"You kept if from me too" "You knew how much I missed him and you didn't even tell me. We don't want you to come back with us." She was sobbing now and wrapped herself in Buffy's arms.

"Well, now that everything's out in the open Buffy, might I suggest we start….."

"Shut up Giles." "Don't talk to me right now, show us where our room is, I can't do this tonight." What she really wanted to do was patrol, to kill something, a lot.

However, her sisterly duty called and Dawn was very close to being hysterical herself, they both needed time to cope and to console each other.

"Right then, perhaps you should rest, follow me." Giles offered.

Buffy grabbed the bottle of scotch from the shelf as she followed her watcher. Promising herself that she would deal with him tomorrow, when hopefully she would be able to keep herself from killing him. They needed him alive until they figured out what to do with this new evil, and then all bets are off.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4:**

The next morning looked no brighter for either of the Summers girls; they had both been awake most of the night, mourning once again for their lost vampire; For her lost lover, and most trusted confidant. For Dawn, the loss of her friend, her big brother, and although she would refuse to admit it, the object of her first crush.

Buffy remembered how horrified she became when she realized that Dawn had feelings towards the bleached blond vampire; how repulsed the thoughts of them together had made her. She knew that Spike never once considered taking advantage of the young girl; He saw her strictly as the little sister of the love of his existence, so by default she became his little sister; someone to protect.

God how blind she had been; she knew that most "men" at that point regardless of their souls would have taken advantage of the girl, but not Spike, he was never even tempted.

How was it she had not been able to see the goodness in him then?

Through the night, they cried together. Often one or the other drifting off to be awakened by the sounds of the other's soft sobs.

They shared many stories of fond memories each had for their fallen vamp; Buffy wincing visibly when she realized just how many more happy moments her sister had to share than she did.

So much of their relationship was based on pain, and then on pain and sex.

These stories were not for the delicate ears of her sister.

She thought guiltily about everything that she had put that man through; She could never resolve why he loved her the way that he did; and that made her strike out at him more.

He would willingly take anything she dished out to him; "Use or abuse, it's all the same" he would always say. He wanted to be with her so badly, he would sacrifice himself for time with her. He would offer his body as an instrument to absorb any punishment that she felt she needed to inflict, for perceived wrong doings, by anyone, including herself.

He was always there to pay the price.

Maybe that was why he denied her proclamation of her love as he was beginning to burn, effectively closing the hell mouth. One more price to be paid so that she could live.

Maybe that was why he didn't try to contact her once he was corporeal again; She really wanted to be mad at him for that, but she realized that once again she was the one to blame.

She waited too long to tell him what she most wanted to say, something that she had been feeling for so long that she couldn't remember when she hadn't felt it.

Even after that nightmare in the bathroom, she knew that she was the one to blame. It was all her fault, and she knew that she was the one that needed to beg for forgiveness.

Maybe she was the one that needed to go to Africa to fight for her soul, for the past few years, she had been the monster that she was sworn to fight.

If only she could have one more chance, she would tell him everything that she had been too afraid to before.

She was exhausted and completely drained, not to mention having a headache that she was sure had been conjured in some outer hell dimension. She wasn't sure if it came from the crying or the scotch, or best guess was the combination of both.

Dawn was finally sleeping deeply, her snores reverberating off of the walls.

She knew a shower was in order so she made her way into the en suite, and dared take one short glance at herself in the mirror.

She didn't even recognize the person staring back at her; Her eyes were red and swollen with dark purple circles underneath. She was pale and way too thin, Spike wouldn't like that.

She snorted at that; he would have thought she was perfect even if she added to this look a gallon of Fyral demon mucus.

Yep his love was totally unconditional.

The water was steaming up the bathroom almost immediately, Buffy knew that she needed to get her shit together and go face the others.

Scolding herself that now was not the time for self-indulgence, there would be the rest of her life for that; that is if she survived this thing.

She stepped under the numerous water jets, and she felt her muscles begin to loosen immediately, after a couple of moments, she realized that she hadn't felt this relaxed since, well since the last night before he left her.

For the first time in their relationship she had allowed him to make love to her; It wasn't the violent fucking that she always insisted upon, instead he made her see heaven again with a slow, tender dance. It was always what he wanted to give her, giving every part of himself to her; not asking for anything for himself.

His gentle touches set her skin on fire, and his icy blue eyes never left her face as he worshiped her body, giving her several soft, rolling orgasms before finally finding his own release.

After that he continued to hold her throughout the night, each aware that the other was finding no sleep, but content to just be still together. Her back to his chest, stroking his arm, trying to pour her feelings into her touches, he with his face buried into her hair, content to just breath her unique scent.

He whispered poetry and words of his love and devotion to her throughout the night. Buffy couldn't help but notice the more he spoke the less she heard of the tough East London accent that he had perfected and more of what she could only assume was the voice of William, the Victorian gentleman, she didn't think that he even realized that he was doing that; and as the sun arose he kissed her tears away before silently climbing the stairs hand in hand to meet the others.

Her tears were back in earnest now, the onslaught of memories assaulting her were just too much.

But wait, she was feeling something else also; something that she hadn't felt since that night, it was so long ago but unmistakable she was completely aroused.

There had been no one since him; and she couldn't have cared less; despite the fact that he had died so that she could live, she couldn't bring herself to do such a disservice to his memory as to let anyone near her.

The immortal prick had tried though and that's when he found himself at the wrong end of her stake; With one sharp thrust he was no longer immortal; he was dust.

She had tried a few times to take matters into her own hands, so to speak, but she just couldn't make it feel like it had when he touched her, so with very little frustration at the fact, she quit, she knew that he had broken her, without him she would never feel that pleasure again. That was ok though, it's nothing less than she deserved.

She grabbed her favorite shampoo and decided to get herself ready to start the day; She knew that Giles and the others would be waiting for her. "Good" She muttered to herself, let them wait for a while. Passive aggressiveness thy name is Buffy, she thought and a small smile broke out on her face, Spike would be ever so proud.

Once she finished thoroughly washing hair, rinsing and then repeating and then taking the time to deep condition, she knew she was being petty but that's her right as the wronged party here.

She grabbed her sponge and her favorite vanilla bath wash, not only was it her favorite but it was his also.

She discovered how much he liked it by accident, back when they hated each other.

It was not the type that she had usually used, but her new step thing had given it to her as a gift and since slayage didn't come with a great pay check or benefits package, who was she to look a gift horse or whore, as the case may be, in the mouth?

It was during one of their famous beat spike up and then offer him cash for information moments, she had been wailing on him, when she noticed that he was standing stock still, his nose in the air, inhaling, a look of sheer pleasure on his face.

At first she started looking for bleeding wounds, but found none, when she heard him whimper "mmm vanilla."

Of course from that day on she never went back to the old stuff, not for him of course, but she guessed that she kind of liked it too. "Yep, how is Egypt this time of year?"

When she started seeing Riley, he told her it was too sweet and that he didn't care for it, but she didn't change, she should have known then.

After all of the time that Buffy had spent in the shower, procrastinating, no relaxing yeah that was it, relaxing; the water began to cool quickly.

"Oh well, time to wrap this up and go face the firing squad, or whatever you have to face now." She said softly.

She lathered up her sponge and began trying to wash the grime of the past twenty four hours, from her exhausted body when she noticed that the softly falling, cool water was only increasing her arousal.

If she closed her eyes and concentrated really hard, it was as if Spike were touching her.

It reminded her off all of the hours that they had spent in his makeshift shower, on the lower level of his crypt. She was never able to figure out, how he had managed to arrange running water in that place, probably the same way that he had managed electricity and cable.

The water was always cold, but somehow her already lower than natural body temped vamp, managed to make things toasty warm for her.

Like this one time, she started remembering, and then stopped herself short "no Buffy, now is so not the time." But the damage was done.

Instantly, she felt the warm rush of fluids escape her as she imagined a naked Spike in front of her on his knees, so not to waste a single drop.

For the first time since his death, she had to have relief.

Maybe it was because she was in the country that he had such a strong connection with, maybe it was his ghost, hell maybe it was another sign of the apocalypse but whatever the reason she felt him there with her.

She began washing her neck and shoulders, that is where Spike would always start, whispering in her ear about wanting to take all of her little achies away.

"That's it slayer, just want to loosen these knots up a little." She could hear him say.

She dropped her sponge with a gasp, his voice in her head so real. It was if he were standing behind her.

"Pretend it's my hands, slayer, touching you, going to make you feel so good."

"Yes Spike, please." She hissed.

Her soapy hands began drifting of their own volition towards her breasts; she moaned softly when they came to rest on her nipples.

She had always worried that she was too small, but her vampire seemed to love them.

He could spend hours alone touching, teasing, nibbling on them, he worshiped them like they were fine works of art and on more than one occasion brought her to orgasm without touching her below the waist.

With him she was never self conscious, he used to beg her to let him watch her touch herself.

She had always heard that men liked to do that, but before Spike she always felt that would make her feel cheap and more than a little whorish, but with the attention that he paid to her, hearing his breathing speed and catch as she was close, he made her feel as if he was witnessing the most beautiful thing in this world.

She was teasing her nipples now, just touching enough to allow the small buds to pebble beneath her fingers.

"Harder Buffy, please." Imaginary Spike was telling her now. "I want to feel them in my hands."

She grabbed both small mounds and began roughly kneading them together, she gave a small moan of pleasure.

"That's it baby, pinch your nipples for me, pretend it's my teeth, nibbling at you, I want a taste, luv."

Inside she knew that after this was over, she was going to pay a heavy price for this indulgence, but she couldn't resist.

Hearing his voice inside her head, getting herself off to the words that he would have used, touching herself the way that he would have, just for today was to too delicious to walk away from.

Instinctively, her hand started drifting southward, she felt that she would combust if she didn't come soon, but almost immediately his voice was back:

"Slow down slayer, want to build that anticipation, don we?"

Great, she fumed, even her imaginary Spike liked to torture her.

While her left hand was still pulling and squeezing her breast, her right slowed its' movements, taking time to caress her flat stomach.

Using her middle finger she took the time to rub soft circles around her navel, he always seemed to fascinated with that small, insignificant part of her anatomy.

"That's it sweetness, wanna stoke that fire, let it burn just a little longer."

"Spike" She whimpered, "I need to….." Her strong legs were shaking now; very much like they were made of jello.

"Shh, luv, Spike knows what you need, we'll get you there yeah?"

Her hand was traveling towards her throbbing pussy now, she began softly rubbing her outer folds at first. Long, torturously soft touches, knowing that's how he would have touched her.

"Christ Slayer, I wanna taste you so bad; I wanna feel you one my tongue, wanna drown in your honey." The voice in her head, replaying so many things that he had said to her before.

"Give me some baby" The voice urged. She obediently inserted one finger into her tight passage, withdrawing and inserting slowly.

She growled in frustration, because this was getting her nowhere, she added a second and then a third finger, trying in vain to reach that spot deep inside her, that Spike had always been able to find instinctually.

She began thrusting in earnest now, as her other hand left her breast to make its' way to her engorged clit.

Spike had always been able to make her come, just by barely touching her, something about his soft and reverent touches always did it for her, but today she needed more.

She began rubbing the button in violent circles, while still thrusting her other fingers deeply into her aching pussy.

She was about to give in to frustration and give up all together, when his ghostly voices whispered in to her ear."

"That's it now slayer, give it up, give into me and let go."

With that order, she came with a violence that brought her to her knees.

The last thing that she heard was his voice saying, " I promised didn't I, swore that I'd never leave you wanting."

"I love you Spike" She gasped as she waited for the strength to return to her legs.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5:**

"Buffy" the shrill shriek of her sister brought her back to her senses.

"J-jjj just a minute Dawn." She calmed herself enough to be able to answer, while rising to her feet and shutting off the water.

She stepped out of the shower on still trembling legs and bundled herself into her fluffy, fleece robe.

She wrapped her long, blond locks into a thick towel and made her way back into the bedroom that she was sharing with her sister.

"Jeeze, Buffy, what were you doing in there?" " Giles called here about twenty minutes ago wanting us to come down to breakfast."

"He said that everyone else was already up and ready to start the great research party."

Twenty minutes ago, wow, she thought, she didn't realize that she had been in there that long.

"Sorry, I guess I just sort of spaced." She answered while throwing her still damp hair into a ponytail and dressing in her most comfy jeans, a huge sweatshirt, with a standard issue black t-shirt underneath and her favorite stylish but affordable boots.

"It's ok, I told him that you didn't get much sleep last night and that we'd be down when we could."

Buffy just gave her sister a grateful smile.

The spent the next 15 minutes trying to find their way to the dining room, only to get turned around twice; finally they bumped into someone they assumed was a housekeeper of sorts who was able to escort them to room where everyone was gathered.

"Aw, good morning Dawn, Buffy" "I assume that you found your room to your liking." "Would you care for some breakfast?"

Neither sister was willing to look at the Englishman, Dawn sat and started helping herself to the platters of food that were situated on the table.

Buffy simply answered "Coffee"

If her watcher thought that the conversation from last night was forgiven and forgotten he had another thing coming.

"Yes of course." He stuttered.

The others in the room, could not help but notice the sudden drop in the temperature of the room, started trying to make conversation with Buffy.

They offered greetings and hugs for both the slayer and her sister, neither girl seemed interested in reciprocating.

Xander of course was oblivious as usual, "So Buff, how are things in Rome?" "Any hot Italian models of the human variety beating down your door?"

She just stared at him incredulously; Xander even after all this time, never knew when to not talk. He was of course the president of denialville, and never could understand just how much she had lost that day in Sunnydale.

In fact, he tried making jokes about the whole thing, such as how life was so good then, not only did they close the hell mouth, they also got rid of the evil un-dead.

It took Faith, Dawn, Wood and a couple of the other slayers to keep her from finding out just how easily bone could be ground into a fine powder.

Out of all of her friends, she would have thought that Xander would have been the one to understand.

He had after all had lost Anya that day, but no, he was still president, founder and CEO of the I hate Spike club; A club that apparently her adopted father figure and watcher Rupert Giles, was also a founding member of.

Willow, Dawn and a couple of the former potentials gave Xander withering looks.

"What did I say?" He asked, completely clueless.

"God, have you always been this big of an idiot Xand?" Dawn screeched.

Giles took notice of Buffy's posture and her clenched fists and decided that it was time to get the discussion back to the matter of importance, before someone, namely Xander became the latest piece of Buffy's training equipment.

He stood up and cleared his throat, Buffy could tell that he was dying to start cleaning his glasses; "So the reason that I have brought you all here is, I'm afraid we have a rather large problem."

Buffy just sipped her coffee having heard this story the night before.

Giles began repeating the story of the senior partners of Wolfram and Hart and the battle with Angel and his associates, while stuttering and trying to delicately sidestep that it was in fact that Angel caused all of this.

"So Giles" "Big picture here, what are we fighting?" Buffy asked, feigning mild interest.

"Well, to put it into its' most basic terms, each of the senior partners is a demon."

"Yeah, yeah, demons, nothing that we haven't dealt with before." Buffy answered.

"But that's where you're wrong Buffy, what you have all faced before are more like hybrids, you have never faced a true demon."

"Even the First, Buffy, was nothing compared to what's coming."

"To put it in the most basic terms, each of these demons are fragments, of another being all together, once their demonic energies are combined into one entity, well what you are going to be dealing with is most commonly known in Christian lore as Satan."

You could have heard a pin drop. No sharp intakes of breath, no one dared to utter a sound.

Buffy closed her eyes and counted to ten before she said "excuse me when I say huh?"

"Satan or what you know as Satan, The Devil, whatever you know him as is on his way."

"Wait Giles, now I know I'm no religious buff here and also Jewish and Wicca, but I've read the new testament" Willow started "and isn't his coming supposed to be met by another higher power, not a bunch of witches and slayers?"

Giles reached behind him to a table that was piled high with books, he grabbed the largest stack and started spreading them out in front of himself with the others looking on in curiosity until he located what he was looking for: A black leather bound book with the title imprinted in gold lettering The Bible King James Version.

"Willow, you would be correct, but because of the war that Ang…." and he stopped and reworded what he was about to say.

"Because of the recent events in Los Angeles, it appears that during the battle a portal from hell was created and the entities have begun to converge, it's not a matter of if but a a matter of when he escapes now and because to my knowledge none of the prophecies for the return of the Messiah have been fulfilled we have a big problem."

Buffy started laughing loudly and everyone including Dawn began staring at her like she had lost her mind.

Maybe she had she thought, maybe this was it, maybe she would wake up any minute and find herself in that padded room in L.A. with that creepy doctor and her mom and dad looking on in worry.

"So Angel strikes again, at least he's consistent, when he fucks up, he does it in a big way."

"No small gestures for Angel, nope, God damn him, even when he wasn't trying to be evil, he tries to destroy the world."

And this is with a soul, a small voice in the back of her mind told her; why the hell had she ever put so much importance on that soul again?

Everyone began speaking or yelling at once.

Dawn and Willow had already started grabbing books, Kennedy and Faith were talking about weapons that might take the big "D" out and Andrew was babbling about some movie that he had seen on the sci-fy channel that involved the devil coming back to Earth.

Some of the younger girls were crying and some were praying.

Wood and Giles were talking about something between themselves and she could only stand there like an idiot.

Xander began to say something about vampires, but with one look at Buffy quickly shut his mouth.

"So Giles, what do we do?" Buffy asked finally finding her voice.

"I really don't know." "We do have a group of monks going over texts of prophecies and a couple of women from the coven are trying to work on something that might be able to restore the barrier, but so far we have nothing."

She had to get out of there, the weight of the atmosphere was threatening to suffocate her.

A walk was what she needed, and maybe with any luck, she would find something to kill.

She slipped out of the room, after Giles had turned his back to answer some of Wood's questions and made her way out of the manor into the cold, damp, London night.

She had been walking for over an hour, she didn't know how she knew how long she had been gone, she had forgotten her cell phone again and she had no clue where she was.

She was cold and she was soaking wet and to top it all off she had not found one thing to slay.

She was about to turn around and try to find her way back to the manor when she heard a sound.

It was softly keening and moaning, sort of like a wounded animal.

The sounds that it was making broke her heart. She needed to find the poor thing and if it was an animal to put it out of its' misery.

"Be careful Buffy" She silently warned herself, it could be something nasty trying to get itself a nummy treat.

If that were the case it was going to be seriously disappointed, she was itching for a good fight.

She started following the sounds and her slayer senses were not even tingling remotely, she was sure that she was going to find an injured dog or something.

After another few minutes the cries were becoming louder and louder, she knew that she must be almost on top of whatever this poor creature was.

She began turning in circles trying to locate the creature, when she tripped over something sticking out of the bushes.

It was pitch black out that night, no moon or stars to help light her way.

As soon as she bent down to move the object out of her way, she realized that it was no stick or log that she had fallen over; it was a mans' leg and it was attached to the rest of him.

She knelt down next to him, she needed to figure out if he was still alive.

"Buffy, you idiot That's who's moaning for help, of course he's alive." She scolded herself. "Or at least un-dead." Came from the nagging voice in the back of her mind.

She turned herself until she found his head, she picked it up gently and cradled it in her lap and felt his neck for a pulse.

With a sigh of relief she realized that he indeed did have a pulse, it was fast but it was strong.

She also realized that he was drifting in and out of consciousness, she couldn't leave him here until she found her way back to the house and he obviously couldn't walk on his own.

"Well, good thing I kept up with my strength training" She said to herself or to him, she wasn't sure which it was.

She stood up and lifted him as gently as possible. He was very light and she wondered what had happened to him.

"Hey, if you can here me, it's ok, I'm a friend, I'm going to get you help."

She struggled to get her sense of direction back, she think that she remembered passing a barn or something not too far back down the path.

It was then that she realized that the man was completely naked.

"Well, I hope that you're not too modest, but don't worry it's too dark for me to see anything anyway." She was rambling, trying to be reassuring, he simply whimpered.

She kept repeating to herself, "get him to the barn, try to get him warm."

After what seemed like hours, but in all honest was probably only a half an hour, she finally saw a dim light shining from a large building.

She had done it, she had found the barn.

She would get him inside and find something to cover him with and then she could rush back to the house and get help.

Another few yards and she would be there, she could do this.

"Hey, almost there, I'm going to get you somewhere safe and then I'll get help I promise." She told him, even though she had no idea if he could hear her or not.

He had been quiet for a while now.

Finally she reached the shelter that she had been searching for; Fortunately for both of them, the doors were unlocked.

She didn't know if she would have been able to make it all the way back carrying him.

He wasn't heavy but after a while, her muscles had begun to ache.

By the dim light she was able to see enough to find a clean enough place to lay him.

As she was looking for a blanket or something to cover him with she noticed a set of light switches.

She flipped them all at once and the lights became so bright that she was temporarily blinded.

Once she could see again, she noticed a phone on the wall.

She prayed that there would be a speed dial button into the main house, she was rewarded for her efforts when she saw a button that she could push for a direct connection.

It rang once and was picked up.

"Watchers Council, this is Andrew, how can I help you?"

Seriously, that's how you answer the phone? She wanted to scream, instead she said.

"Andrew this is Buffy, put Giles on the phone now."

"Oh hey Buffy, yeah, where are you by the way? Giles showed me this really cool book you've got….."

"Not now Andrew" She growled, I need Giles now.

She could hear the noise in the background, it didn't sound like any of the chaos had died down since she had left.

"Giles, it's for you, it's Buffy, she sounds mad." She heard Andrew yell.

Fortunately the phone was a cordless and she began frantically searching for a blanket again, finally finding one folded neatly by the horses tack.

Picking it up, she grimaced when she caught the scent on the blanket.

"Oh well, it's better than nothing, I'm sorry man, it smells like horses though."

She was making her way back to the wounded man, when Giles picked up the extension.

"Buffy, what are you doing in the stables?"

"Giles, I need help here, I was out walking and I stumbled across this man, he's hurt, I'm not sure how or how bad it is, but we need help."

"Of course Buffy, I'll get the cart and I will be there in a few minutes."

She bent down, to cover the poor man and she caught her first glance at his face.

"Buffy, are you still there?" Giles asked.

"Oh God" She screamed.

"Buffy" Giles yelled back

Those cheekbones, those lips, those eyelashes, that scar on his left eyebrow, his hair is brown and curly and she couldn't see his eyes, but she knew these features better than she knew her own.

"Buffy, are you still there?" Giles was getting frantic now.

"Oh God, Giles, hurry, Giles, it's Spike."

She dropped the phone.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6:**

"Oh God Giles, hurry, Giles it's Spike."

That was the last thing that Rupert Giles heard before the line went dead.

Giles made a spur of the moment decision to take Wood and Faith with him to the stables.

Buffy, he knew, would not be happy, but because he knew his slayer well enough to know that she would never do what might be necessary, he wouldn't be taking any chances.

There was absolutely way to know, what might have come back in Spike's body; it could be pre-chipped Spike, it could be feral vampire, it could be the re-ensouled vampire that Buffy loved or it could be something else entirely.

He gave the couple as much information as he had as they made their way in the golf cart.

It was just a short ride to the stables, but it felt like hours to the watcher.

He was certain that the worst was happening to Buffy and was deathly afraid of what they would find upon arrival.

"Spike, please come back to me."

"You can't die again,."

"I love you so much."

She had his head cradled in her lap and she was softly begging him to stay with her.

Tears were falling by the gallon, she had no idea what had happened to him, but the fact that he kept drifting in and out of consciousness, she knew that it couldn't have been good.

This brought back too many memories of her own resurrection.

Occasionally he would try to open his eyes, or would make a quiet moan, but as quickly as these things happened, he would become deathly quiet and still again.

"Damn it Giles, hurry." She swore.

After what felt like an eternity for all parties involved, Giles, Faith and Robin Wood, pulled up to the stables, jumped out of the cart and ran into the barn.

All three had stakes in their hands and were already taking an offensive stance.

"Buffy, get away from him." Giles yelled as he was making his way to his slayer and her former lover laying in her arms.

"Giles, what the hell are you doing?" Buffy asked, with a dangerously calm tone to her voice.

"Buffy." He responded with a similar tone to his voice; "we have no idea, who or what this really is now get away from him."

"Giles, I told you he's hurt, I'm not sure where or how, but he's unconscious and Giles he… he has a pulse."

That stopped everyone in their tracks; cautiously Giles approached the couple, never letting go of the stake, instead putting it in his coats' breast pocket.

Meanwhile, Faith and Wood stayed a few steps behind the watcher, letting him make the determination to if they should stake first and ask questions later.

Giles slowly approached and knelt down next to the couple.

He could tell that Spike was indeed unconscious and cautiously slid his hand down the vampire's neck, not stopping until he felt what he was searching for.

Buffy was right, Spike now had for all appearances a very strong pulse.

Faith and Wood were standing right behind the other three now and were waiting for the watchers' verdict.

He looked up at the couple and simply nodded his head.

The two warriors dropped their stakes, each looking to the other for answers to the unspoken question.

"Does this mean that he's human now?" Buffy asked bringing voice to the question that everyone else was thinking?

"Well, that is to say, that…" Giles stuttered.

He bowed his head in defeat and said honestly "I just don't know."

"I suggest we get him back to the house and see if we can figure out what has happened to him."

Faith and Wood bent down as if to pick him up, but Buffy was not having any of that.

She clutched him so tightly, that she should have been afraid that she was hurting him.

"No" "I'll carry him." She stated adamantly,

"Hey B, we're not going to hurt him, lighten up." Faith said, while holding her hands up palms facing forward as if in surrender.

"We were just trying to help." Robin confirmed.

"Yeah, it's just I remember, the last times, you all tried to help with Spike." She snapped.

Not only was she thinking about the time that Giles and Wood had decided to get rid of the problem, but she had never forgotten about walking into the basement one day to find Faith coming on to him.

She stood up, dusting the dirt from her knees and gently picked her vamp or man or whatever up, making sure to keep the blanket in place.

She knew that Faith and Wood were a pretty hot item, but she didn't want her getting any ideas.

Buffy sat on the back of the cart with Spikes' head cradled in her lap; as they began making their way back to the house.

The ride was bumpy and she was on edge, but her senses were picking up on something.

It was something familiar, but she couldn't put a name to what she was feeling.

It didn't really matter anyway, she thought, her gaze never breaking from Spike's beautiful face.

All that mattered was that she had him back and she had another chance.

She prayed that it wasn't too late, she had so much that she had to tell him.

Forgiveness to be asked for, love to proclaim, and probably a fair amount of groveling to be done to get him to stay.

He hadn't believed her when she told him before, she wasn't sure if he would now.

If he ultimately decided that she wasn't worth it, she would respect that and hopefully would be able to let him go.

She just had to make sure that he had all of the facts first.

Oh God, she thought, what if he has amnesia? What if he doesn't remember me?

"Oh well, then I'll just have to make him remember." She resigned.

Then the more that she thought about it, maybe it would be better if he didn't.

That way they could have a fresh start with no painful memories of how cruel she had been to him, to come between them.

What she didn't know at the time was that these were the last things that she needed to be worrying about at the moment.

She should have been paying more attention to the senses that were telling her something else was still out there.

Something or someone from her past; someone whose presence would be very un-welcome.

Someone that was there to destroy every thing that she cared about.

Approximately 100 meters from the house, buried deep in some thick bushes, someone else was just waking.

She however, took only a minute to regain her memory,

She knew instantly where she was and what she was doing there.

She also knew that she was famished.

She ran quickly into the night to find someone to eat, someone who hopefully was female, so that she could acquire clothing also.

Two birds with one stone so to speak.

With one look back towards the sprawling mansion, she spoke softly; "Soon my sweet prince, I'll be back soon, and then everything will be right again."

No sooner than the group pulled up to the watcher's headquarters, Spike began moaning softly.

It appeared that the jostling from the ride had brought him back to consciousness.

Buffy cooed words of comfort and he seemed to relax considerably.

Rushing ahead to open the door for her, Giles watched Buffy as she picked Spike up effortlessly as if he weighed no more than a child.

"Good lord" He said under his breath.

He couldn't help but notice that the man appeared to be emaciated.

Now Giles was strictly heterosexual, but when Spike was living in his bathtub, he had walked in on him on various states of undress.

He often felt twinges of jealousy when taking note of the mans' physique.

He had always been thin, but in the past his body was composed of long lines of pure muscle.

He remembered often thinking that Spikes' body was very much like a work of art, with his ivory skin, he was reminded of sculptures that he had viewed in the finest of European museums.

Now he mused, he was reminded of people that he saw in Public Service Announcements warning of the dangers of drug abuse.

"What a shame" He said to no one but himself, he was after all a man who appreciated beauty in all forms.

Even if wrapped in a package of an evil killer.

Once they were in the foyer of the house, the group found themselves surrounded by a hoard of curious onlookers.

Leading the group was Dawn, while everyone was speaking in loud whispers to each other, each speculating as to what happened to him and what they should do with him; Dawn approached him quietly and began softly stroking his face, tears streaming silently.

"Wha what happened to him Buffy?"

"We're not sure Dawnie, but we're going to find out and we'll take care of him, I promise." Her sister vowed.

"Well yes, with regards to taking care of him, Buffy we have one more bedroom left, it's on the fourth floor, well actually," he stuttered and began polishing his glasses furiously.

"Actually it's more like the attic, but I assure you it's clean and perfectly suited for him."

Buffy didn't even acknowledge him, instead she began climbing the stairs, but instead of going to the attic, she stopped on the second floor.

She knew that Giles, Dawn , Willow and Xander were right on her tail, so without even looking back, she said firmly. "No, he stays with me."

"But Buffy" Xander exclaimed, are you sure that's a good idea, you don't know how he's going to wake up?" "What if he gets all fangy?"

She shot him a glare that made him shrink back in fear.

"He Stays With Me.!" She said through clenched teeth.

He began to moan and cry as she laid him on her bed "Oh God, the pain, please make it stop" He wailed.

His writhing caused the blanket covering him to slide down his body and the first thing that she noticed were his protruding ribs.

"My God baby, what happened to you?" She was truly seeing him for the first time and her heart was breaking out of her chest.

"Don't worry Spike, we'll figure it out and we'll help you heal, I swear."

The next thing that she noticed was that her voice, seemed to calm him.

She had a feeling that there would be no sleep that night, she was going to do anything that it took for him to be comfortable, and if that meant non-stop babbling then that's exactly what she would do.

It was a few minutes before she remembered that they had an audience and she looked up and said "Would you guys leave us for a little while?" "He's covered in mud and smells like horses now, I want to clean him up and get him into bed.

Giles began to notice that the man was shivering and said "Yes I think that's a good idea, maybe after we can get him to drink something warm. Tea possibly or maybe a brandy, yes a brandy might help bring him out of shock."

Without looking up, she thanked her watcher as he turned and walked out of the room ordering Xander to follow him.

"Buffy, do you want some help?" Dawn asked, her eyes pleading to not be forced to leave.

"Yeah Buffy, we're here we can help." Offered Willow.

"No, thanks guys, but no, I have this." She responded, she was remembering how many times he had done the same for her after particularly nasty fights.

She knew that this was the very least that she could do for him.

Besides, this was not exactly something for her little sisters' eyes.

"Dawn, can you go ask Giles, if he has something for me to put water in, I don't want to move him to the tub?"

Spike was beginning to sob again, she sat beside him on the bed, and began holding his hand, while her other hand was brushing his soft curls out of his eyes.

"I'm here Spike" she whispered. "I'm going to take care of you I promise."

"Do you remember when you used to take care of me?"

He moaned something that Buffy couldn't make out, but it didn't matter.

He was responding to her and that's what mattered.

A few minutes later there was a soft knock on the door and before she could answer Dawn popped her head in asking if it was ok to come in.

Buffy just nodded her consent.

"Here" she said softly, not wanting to disturb Spike.

She handed Buffy a wash basin, and a pitcher.

"Giles said to bring these too, just in case everything got wet or muddy."

She had a fresh set of sheets and three fluffy blankets.

"Thanks Dawnie, and tell Giles I said thanks too, ok?"

"Sure thing, and I'm going to be bunking with Andrew tonight, you know he's safe."

"That's fine, good night, Dawn."

Her sister was grabbing clothes and her Ipod and went quickly into the bathroom to get her toothbrush before leaving for the night.

"Is there anything that I can do, before I leave Buffy?" Willow asked with sincerity.

"Look, I know that I wasn't all supporto girl, you know before with him, but I want to help."

"Thanks Wills, yeah, could you bring me a washcloth, towel ,soap and shampoo and maybe fill these with warm water?"

"Sure thing" She said with a small smile and after thinking for a second she said "Buffy, I'm glad you get another chance, I wish every day that I could have another one with Tara."

She walked into the bathroom and within a couple of minutes she was back with everything that Buffy had asked for.

"It's going to be a little while before I go to bed, so if you need anything just call down to the common room, ok."

"Ok, hey could you ask Giles to give me about a half and hour and then have him bring up some fluids, including the Brandy for Spike."

With a promise to do that, she left the two of them alone and softly closed the door behind her.

Immediately Buffy pulled the blanket from her lover and began a thorough inspection of his body, searching for in any signs of open wounds.

There were none that she could find, but a gasp escaped her lips when she noticed his hipbones. He was so thin that she was afraid that one wrong movement and the bones would break his skin.

Slowly and methodically she began by taking the soft cloth and began to wash his beautiful face.

A small sigh erupted from him as she gently let the warm soapy water drip down to his neck.

Next came washing his hair; She never thought that she would have the pleasure of running her fingers through his deceptively soft curls.

She scratched his scalp lightly while trying to remove all of the dirt and grime.

She smiled a little, when she heard him emit a noise that was purely content Spike; it was somewhere between a purr and a sigh.

"Still like scalp massages, I see." She said in almost a whisper.

After his hair was sufficiently clean, she went into the bathroom and dumped the dirty and cooling water.

Within a minute, she had returned and began bathing him.

Taking as much care as she would have, had she been bathing an infant, she began working her way downwards from his neck.

Everything was going fine until she reached the one body part that she had been avoiding.

She actually considered leaving that part unwashed, but sucked in a breath and scolded herself, "Don't be a baby, Buffy.," "You've seen that a million times before, and this time you're not trying to use him, just trying to care for him."

With a nervous sigh, she used her soapy hand to lather his gorgeous cock, taking extra care to make sure that he was sufficiently clean, she stroked him up and down a couple of times.

Apparently her hands had a mind of their own, she was about to pull away when said appendage gave a jerk and she felt it hardening under her ministrations.

"Bad Buffy." She reprimanded herself, but she couldn't stop the flow of her own juices.

Now she had a real problem, she couldn't leave him all soapy, but since he was kind of out of it, this just didn't seem right.

With a sense of resignation and a firm reminder to herself to behave she rinsed the cloth that she had been using and begin cleaning the soap from him.

His hips gave an involuntary jerk and he began thrusting slowly into her hand.

He still hadn't opened his eyes, and her conscious began to get the better of her, so with more that a little disappointment after he was completely rinsed, she removed her hand.

He gave a little groan of frustration, but she lightly kissed his lips and whispered;

"I'm sorry baby, as soon as you're better, I promise that I'll make it up to you."

She quickly dried him off and after managing to change the sheets and the comforter she tucked him snugly into bed.

She knew that she should try to find him some clothes, but Spike always slept naked and she wanted him to be as comfortable as he could be, and decided against it.

She was exhausted now and really only wanted a shower and to climb under the covers and cuddle with him as she was about to make her way into the bathroom there was a knock at the door.

She sighed and made her way back into the bedroom and saw Giles peaking his head through the door. His eyes half closed to make sure that he didn't see anything that would traumatize him later.

"It's safe Giles, come on in." She told him.

He brought Buffy a bottle of water and had three brandy snifters with him.

"So has there been any change?" He asked her.

"Not so much, he sort of came to for a minute when I was washing his hair, but it didn't last long." She told him, purposely editing her story for her watcher's delicate ears.

After depositing the glasses on the night stand, Giles went back to the door, bent down and came back in carrying a pair of sweat pants, a t-shirt, and a pair of boxers.

Buffy wanted to roll her eyes, knowing that Spike always went commando.

"I'm afraid, they are going to be too big, but after he comes to, we can sort it out."

"Thanks" She told him absentmindedly, knowing full well that she had no intention of dressing him in something so un-spike-like.

"Do you think that we can sit him up and get him to drink?" Giles asked.

"Probably, I didn't see any open wounds on him, so I don't think that it will hurt."

Buffy stooped to reposition Spike, carefully propping him up with a pillow behind his back to help support him.

"Spike, can you hear me?" Giles asked.

Spike immediately opened his eyes, and began looking between Buffy and her watcher, no signs of recognition in the blue eyes that she knew and loved so well.

Her heart broke, when he made no effort to talk to her.

"Giles brought you something to drink, we thought it might make you feel better."

"Do you think that you can drink on your own?" Giles added.

Spike just silently nodded that yes he could.

Buffy handed him the glass and with shaking hands he took his first swallow.

The amber liquid burned and he almost spat it out; before taking a second sip and then moaned appreciatively.

He finished the first glass in less than a minute, and began looking silently at another glass.

"Here" Buffy offered.

She noticed that his color was returning as he guzzled the liquid, and he sighed contentedly.

She took the glass from his hand and was about to offer him the third, but then he closed his eyes and emitted a soft snore.

"Well, I think that all we can do now is wait and let him sleep." Giles said.

"I think that I'm going to get some sleep now, if you need anything in the night or if something changes, simply pick up the phone and dial #3, and that will ring my room directly."

He was picking up the empty glasses and was about to grab the full one too, when Buffy beat him to it, finishing it in three large gulps, before handing the glass to Giles.

"Well then, Goodnight Buffy." He said.

"Night Giles." She answered before heading off to shower.

As soon as the hot water hit her skin, she felt herself relax immediately, the brandy probably helped a little too, she mused.

She rushed her shower, in a hurry to get back to Spike, and in less than ten minutes, she was dried and buried under the covers with him.

Not bothering to get dressed herself, she never slept naked, you never knew when a slayer emergency might hit, but tonight all that she wanted was to feel his warm skin against hers.

With his back pressed close against her chest and her left arm wrapped tightly around his thin waist, she closed her eyes and immediately fell into a dreamless slumber.

a/n: First of all thanks to everyone who is reading this, and reviewing and or saving it to favorites I really appreciate it. Thank you.

Also, as I am about to start a new job, the updates may be coming once a week from now on, but I promise not to abandon this story.

Oh yeah, I don't own any of this all hail to Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy and whoever else for bringing us these wonderful characters.

However, since he seems to have finished playing with them, he really should consider giving me Spike.


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